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Southeast Asia 03/08/2018
Burda invests in used carmarketplace Carsome
Hubert Burda Media announced its investment in Carsome, the leading used carmarketplace platform in Southeast Asia. Burda’s growth capital arm BurdaPrincipalInvestments led the US$19M Series B funding round alongside Gobi Partners and otherexisting investors. This round will be used to strengthen the company’s position inIndonesia and Thailand, the region’s largest automotive markets. The company isheadquartered in Malaysia and employs over 150 employees.
“We feel Southeast Asia's burgeoning automotive sector is in the early stages of a digitaltransformation and believe there is a tremendous opportunity for Carsome to bridge theoffline-to-online space. We are thrilled to join them as they build the leading used car platformin the region.”
Albert Shyy, Principal of BurdaPrincipal Investments
The founders of Carsome: Eric Cheng and Jiun Ee Teoh
“Currently, Southeast Asia’s used car industry – estimated to be valued at over US$30 billionyearly – is still highly fragmented, inefficient and lacks transparency. Carsome takes on theseproblems by providing a seamless and transparent online used car selling process; one thatprovides users an easier way to sell their cars to dealers nationwide in a fast, fair and freemanner.”
Eric Cheng, Co-Founder and CEO of Carsome
CEO Eric Cheng and COO Jiun Ee Teoh founded Carsome in May 2015. Through its onlinebidding portal, customers are able to sell their vehicles directly to dealers nationwide. Carsome facilitates the entire car selling process from inspection, to valuation, bidding andpayment as well as logistics needs, allowing the customers to sell their cars as fast as oneday with zero charges and minimal effort.
Carsome’s monthly total transaction value has increased by more than fourfold sinceJanuary 2017. Total car sales facilitated on its platform have more than quadrupled withmore than 70% of the transactions being done inter-city, which is a strong testament to thevalue proposition and product fit of Carsome’s business model. They have also grown theirstaff strength to over 150 in all four operating countries to cater for the rapid expansion oftheir business.
BurdaPrincipal Investments has significant experience investing globally in ecommerce andmarketplace platforms. The company provides long term growth equity for fast growingdigital technology and media companies. Current investments include Zilingo, Etsy,
Notonthehighstreet.com, M.Gemi, Vinted and Showroom.
by Dorothee Stommel
Head of Digital Communications
Category Company Tags Albert Shyy, Asia, BurdaPrincipal Investments, Carsome, Eric Cheng, investment, Jiun Ee Teoh URL https://www.burda.com/en/news/burda-invests-used-car-marketplace-carsome/